Replicated findings of research on the internal-external frame of reference model of self-concept and extended this line of research by incorporating parent perceptions of their children's academic abilities. Results show that parents did not use processes similar to the internal-external frame of reference when assessing their children's academic…

Examined relationship of role models among African American ninth-graders to substance use, delinquency, academic engagement, and psychological well-being. Found that males without male role models and females identifying brothers as role models reported the most problem behavior. Adolescents with paternal role models had most positive school…

Interviewed adolescents in grades 9 through 12 to examine family closeness as either mediator or moderator of relationships between intense work and academic engagement. Found that for boys, the family closeness mediational model provided best fit for data; for girls, the moderator model fit best. Found girls were especially vulnerable to negative…

A study of 107 15- and 17-year olds examined the relationship between adolescents' general coping styles (problem focused, emotion focused, or cognitive) and their perceptions of parental child-rearing practices (authoritative, authoritarian, indulgent, or neglectful). Findings were consistent with the view that parents' child-rearing techniques…

Examines the type, frequency, and chronicity of alcohol and drug use, impact of such use on functioning, and concomitant psychiatric diagnoses, symptomatology, and behavior problems among adolescent psychiatric inpatients. Results indicate that approximately 50% of the sample had problems with drugs or alcohol, which supports the need for…

Students from sixth grade to college were asked to react to a hypothetical case of problem drinking. With age, the students perceived the problem as less serious, less often attributed it to moral weakness, more often emphasized the individual's responsibility for solving the problem, and expressed more acceptance. Males were more likely than…

Adolescents (n=248) with various musical preferences were compared. Adolescents who preferred hard rock or heavy metal music reported higher rates of reckless behavior and were associated with higher levels of sensation seeking, negative family relationships, and, among girls, lower self-esteem. The relationship between sensation seeking, reckless…

High school and college students (n=160) described their beliefs about the life course and the adulthood transition. College students described older ages of occurrence for leaving home, beginning full-time employment, marriage, and parenthood than did high school students. For both groups, however, marriage and parenthood were thought to occur at…

Describes the communication difficulties that older adolescents (n=188) felt they had experienced with their parents. Results indicated the most frequent type of current communication problem involved personal criticism. Older adolescents' attributions for their past and present communication problems significantly predicted their current…

Examined relationship between coping styles and psychological distress in nonclinical sample of 832 Hong Kong Chinese adolescents. Factor analyses suggest adolescents used relatively similar coping strategies. Four broad coping styles were identified. Avoidance/blaming was found to be a significant and moderately strong predictor of psychological…

Examined relationship between perceived parental responsiveness and demandingness and violence-related behavior in 1,221 ninth and tenth graders. Found that the higher the perceived parental responsiveness and demandingness, the lower the likelihood of violence-related behavior, with stronger associations for females than for males. (Author/KB)

Examined prosocial moral reasoning in Brazilian institutionalized delinquent, orphaned, and noninstitutionalized adolescents. Found that compared to nondelinquent adolescents, delinquent adolescents were less likely to prefer higher level, internalized types of prosocial moral reasoning and more likely to prefer lower levels of prosocial moral…

Used the Adolescent Prosocial Behavior Inventory to explore sixth, eighth, and tenth graders' prosocial behavior toward parents as an embedded aspect of parent/adolescent relationships. Found that mothers received more prosocial behavior than did fathers. Daughters acted more prosocially than sons. Attachment had a direct and an indirect effect…

Investigated leisure-activity correlates for German adolescents. Found that risky leisure was related to West Germany residency, higher childhood competitive play/creative activities, and lower parental monitoring. Social-romantic leisure was related to being female and higher competitive play. Creative-introspective leisure was associated with…

Examined ratings of components of ethnic identity by African-American Latino, Filipino, and Anglo adolescents at an integrated, ethnically balanced high school. Found nonsignificant correlations among ethnic-identity components and a three-factor solution. Correlations among components and factor structure were similar for upper and lower grades.…